Oil Price Falls as Container Ship Blockade on Suez Canal Eases

Oil fell 1% on Monday, after a container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week was refloated and traffic in the waterway resumed.

Prices also dropped as fuel demand in Europe remained weak after countries renewed lockdowns to curb a new wave of coronavirus infections.

Brent oil dropped 65 cents, or 1%, to $63.92 a barrel by 11:17 a.m. EDT (1517 GMT). U.S. crude fell 57 cents, or 0.9%, to $60.40 a barrel.

At the Suez Canal, live footage on a local television station showed the ship, Ever Given, surrounded by tug boats moving slowly in the centre of the canal on Monday.

The station, ExtraNews, said the ship was moving at a speed of 1.5 knots. [nL1N2LR06I]
However, disruptions in the global shipping industry could take weeks and possibly months to clear, top container shipping lines said

Prices have swung wildly in the last few days as traders and investors tried to weigh the impact of the blocked key trade transit point and the broader effect of lockdowns to stop coronavirus infections.

The 400m-long (1,300ft) Ever Given was wedged across the canal  for almost a week, disrupting business activities, before salvage crews dislodged her on Monday.
It was not immediately clear when full traffic could resume in the canal., which links Asia with Europe and the Middle East. It is one of the world’s busiest trade routes. Companies had been forced to reroute vessels.

Approximately 30,000 cubic metres of sand were dredged, with a total of 11 harbour tugs and two powerful seagoing tugs deployed, according to Boskalis.
On Sunday, canal officials had begun preparing to remove some of roughly 18,000 containers on board in order to lighten the load.
The containers are carrying a huge variety of items and the insured value of the cargo is believed to amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Reuters/BBC/Hauwa Abu

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